Contents

Background

Historically, skimmed milk was used for fattening pigs, and was recommended as "not only the very best supplement for growing pigs, but is of almost equal value for fattening purposes" as it "furnishes a complete protein" and makes the feed "more palatable."[2]

Terminology

In the United Kingdom, milk is traditionally marketed and labelled as follows:

Whole milk (around 3.5–4% fat) – Traditionally is delivered on doorsteps by a milkman in the early hours of the morning in glass pint bottles with a silver foil lid and would be called colloquially 'silver-top'. Plastic litre bottles marketed in blue packaging are often found in shops.

Semi-skimmed milk (around 2.5% fat) – Traditionally delivered in glass bottles with a silver foil lid with red stripes and would be called colloquially 'red-top'. Plastic litre bottles are marketed in green packaging.

Channel Island (or Jersey) milk (around 5–5.5% fat) – Traditionally delivered in glass bottles with gold foil lids would be colloquially called 'gold-top'. It can be found marketed in yellow packaging.

Additionally many supermarkets now market milk as:

1% fat milk - Normally sold in purple or orange packaging.

In the United States, milk is marketed primarily by fat content and available in these varieties:

In the state of Florida, although local laws specify that the legal definition of skim milk is milk which does not contain cream, the state ruled in a lawsuit filed by the Ocheesee Creamery that skim milk which does not contain the vitamins found in whole milk falls under the definition of an "imitation milk product", and cannot be marketed as skim milk because it is "nutritionally inferior".[3][4]

Health effects

Skimmed milk is sometimes consumed with the intention of reducing or limiting calorie consumption. It has been argued that the reduction in calories keeps the body further from satiety, causing it to ultimately seek out the same amount of calories that would have otherwise been consumed, and in some cases possibly more or from sources less beneficial.[5][6] The extent to which animal fat contributes to weight gain is also brought into question,[7][8] along with claims that skimmed milk is more beneficial to heart health since non-skimmed milk has a higher low-density lipoprotein content. Milkfat, however, affects only large, non-dense (Pattern A) LDL particles, which studies have shown to carry far less risk of coronary heart disease than small, dense (Pattern B) LDL particles.[9] Skimmed milk also contains almost no Vitamin A.